Gaming sessions typically include various winning gaming results and numerous losing gaming results. Each result is displayed on a gaming device. Since a portion of the winning gaming results are much larger in value than the wagers placed to reach those results, and because the overall payback percentage of the gaming device must be less than 100% to pay for the costs of operating the gaming device, including casino profit, those gaming sessions usually include many more losing gaming results than winning gaming results.
As a consequence of this reality, a great portion of time on the device is spent watching reels spin (or poker hands played) with a resulting loss. For most players the excitement and gratification of gambling is tied to achieving wins. While these players will endure certain periods of loss, players will often press the spin and/or bet buttons as quickly as possible to pass through the losses to get to another win. While the casino is interested to provide as much excitement and entertainment as possible to its players, the casino must also limit the number of wins to cover costs and return a profit, which effectively limits how many wins can be paid to a player.
In all of today's games, losses take as long or nearly as long as wins to display. While sometimes there is player anticipation tied to showing several reels with a particular symbol on a payline (or showing multiple cards needed for a large win in video poker) where the gaming result ultimately ends in a loss, most of the time it is quickly evident to the player that he or she has little or no chance of receiving a winning outcome. Once the player realizes that the current game will result in a loss, the player either has to wait for the remaining reels to come to rest or, in some games, can “slam” the rest of the reels to a stop by hitting the spin button again before waiting for the game to reset and being able to initiate another game. Thus, with conventional gaming devices, players often spend at least half of their gambling sessions waiting through losing gaming results.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other limitations in the prior art.